Page 84 of Golden Eagle

The other vamp hit the far side of the cage and collapsed in a messy sprawl.

The audience was going insane, half with wild cheering, the other with wild recriminations.

“You can’t do that!”

“Fucking cheaters!”

“Kick his ass!”

“Oh my God!”

The big vamp got up slowly, uncoordinated. His mouth hung open at an odd angle, jaw slack. Broken, Trina realized with a sick lurch. Blood poured down from his split hairline, his eyes mere slits in the puffy, bruised skin around them. He got to his knees, and then dragged himself up with help of the cage. Looked over his shoulder, once.

Nikita stared at him with every ounce of his cold Chekist fury. He said nothing, but a message was sent.

The vampire staggered out of the cage, ignoring the crowd that surged around him.

Nikita turned to help Lanny up, who weaved and stumbled, but didn’t look any worse for wear. His face, though, beneath the sweat and blood, had blanched, and he looked rattled.

She could read that look: if not for Nik, he would have been pounded into unconsciousness. Maybe worse than that.

She shuddered. The emcee looked like he might have a coronary, and people were mobbing the betting table, and it was high time they got the hell out of here.

When she glanced at Sasha, though, she found that he was still sitting, staring fixedly at the cage, gaze gone glassy. Eyes dilated, she saw, when she leaned in, pupils totally blown. Face slack, lips parted a fraction as he breathed through his mouth.

It’s not just me,she thought wryly. At least she wasn’t the only weirdo turned on by her mate’s violence.

~*~

They took Lanny back to his old apartment, the one Jamie and Alexei shared these days. He pulled on street clothes over his shorts, and washed his face with a water bottle and a cupped hand, but he wasn’t quite steady. Alexei and Jamie bracketed him, ready to catch him by the shoulders should he stumble.

Alexei’s new “friend,” Dante – and Nik would suss out that story at some point soon; he didn’t trust strangers, especially not ones cozy with Alexei – led the way, turning around every so often to walk backwards and say something to the trio behind him. Nik walked behind Lanny, keenly aware of Sasha behind him – the weight of his gaze – and of Trina beside him, walking with her arms folded, and her head down, brows drawn low.

Sasha was pulsing with energy; Nik had caught his gaze, briefly, when he’d turned from inspecting Lanny. A fast meeting of gray eyes to blue through a screen of chain link that had hit him like an electrical charge. That had happened before –before. But now that he was allowed to want, and touch, and have things, now they could do something about it.

But later. Time for that after this; after he’d cleaned up this mess that the rest of his idiot pack had started.

He took a breath that only shivered a little – Sasha could probably hear it, feel it – and turned all his attention on Trina. “Will you forgive him?”

Her head lifted, and she blinked up at him with obvious surprise. He watched her give the question thought, and then watched her shield her expression. She was nearly as good at that as he himself was. “What, you think I shouldn’t?”

He shrugged. “It’s not my place to say. Just wondering how angry you are.”

She stared at him a moment, flat, then faced forward with a sigh. “I’m furious.” He didn’t prod, and a moment later she said, “And it’s not about the fighting. He’s been doing that in some capacity his whole life. It’s who he is.” She fell silent.

“It’s because he hid it from you,” he said.

“Yeah.”

A food truck sat parked up ahead, clean light spilling from its open window out onto the sidewalk, and the faces of the eager crowd of young club-goers waiting in line. Steam wafted from a vent on its roof, scented savory, spicy, and fatty; for once, the smell of food didn’t make his stomach turn at first sniff.

“Ooh, look, it’s Lima,” Dante said, spotting it, accent firmly American again. “I’m getting some. You want some?” he asked the three walking behind them.

“What is it?” Lanny asked with obvious interest.

“Is this the truck that does the salmon tacos?” Jamie asked. “I’ve been wanting to try it…”

Nikita tuned them out, halting a few paces back as they went to join the line. Sasha bumped in close and rested his chin on his shoulder.

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